Securities Lawsuits Filed Against BP

At least six securities lawsuits have been filed against BP PLC. In these suits groups of foreign businesses and U.S. retirement funds are alleging the oil company’s actions and response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill cost them millions of dollars. German and Singaporean businesses, as well as pension funds in at least seven U.S. states, allege BP misled the public and the funds’ investors in the wake of the April 20, 2010, disaster in violation of the Exchange Act.

It’s alleged that BP should have known about the oil rig’s disaster potential because of several earlier incidents, including a blowout in the Nile River Delta and a 2005 hurricane-triggered disaster at the Gulf of Mexico-based rig Thunder Horse. It’s alleged further that BP failed to reveal the risks to investors.

The investors alleged that BP’s alleged deceit caused investors who were buying shares in BP – or in the cases of the foreign investors, American depositary shares in BP – to lose millions of dollars when the company’s stock price dropped after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which led to the world’s largest accidental marine oil spill.

U.S.-based entities Pension Reserves Investment Management Board of Massachusetts and the Illinois State Board of Investment have each filed their own separate complaints. The Virginia Retirement System, Nebraska Investment Council, Public School and Education Retirement Systems of Missouri, Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, and Indiana Public Retirement System all joined on a similar complaint, issuing claims that investors and the public were lied to, according to their suit.